My memory isnt as...errr....what was I...umm....oh yeah, its 10.26 in the morning !. I think you are correct in her origin. I seem to recall that the Moorabbin Beau or parts from her, came here to Duxford to be incorporated in the TFC's rebuild...that is now up for sale. Here's a few shots from Duxford...
Gary, I think the parts that went to DX for that wonderful machine you posted were from parts stashes as opposed to being from the Moorabbin girl. The museum is rather, um, defensive when anything is suggested about her as she's almost a time machine and, as you know, used to draw the crowds in the days she was run up. Don't quote me on that though as am relying on my memory at 2200 hrs! To be honest, I'm glad the parts left Australia for such a worthy project. Cannot wait for the day when she flies in that wonderful green.
Sadly many "could be interesting" links do not open however there are some here that are quite interesting. Beaufighter links: Some will not liven up so need to be copied into your browser. Beaufighter 21 in Detail - Reference Photographs by Brett Green The Fighter Collection - Beaufighter Fairey Albacore aircraft profile. Aircraft Database of the Fleet Air Arm Archive 1939-1945 Bristol Beaufighter (D Llewellyn James) http://www.vicflintham.co.uk/post-war-military-aircraft/beau/beau.html http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/BARC/beaufighter.html [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]A complete, original, Beaufighter Pilot's Manual on line - some pages take a long time to load, but worth it. Covers the Mark VI - Two Hercules VI Engines and Marks TFX & XI - Two Hercules XVII Engines[/FONT] Pilot's Notes for Beaufighter 2nd Edition
New contender for one of the top low level shots: AWM Collection Record: UK1736 - LANGHAM, ENGLAND. C. 1944-08. BEAUFIGHTER AIRCRAFT OF NO. 455 SQUADRON RAAF, RETURN FROM AN ATTACK ON AN ENEMY CONVOY. BLACK AND WHITE STRIPES WERE PAINTED ON THE WINGS AND FUSELAGE OF ALL ALLIED ...
Duck...and come up with a silly grin... AWM Collection Record: UK1888 - NORFOLK, ENGLAND. C. 1944-09. TORPEDO CARRYING BEAUFIGHTER AIRCRAFT OF NO. 455 SQUADRON RAAF, AT RAF STATION LANGHAM, JUST AFTER TAKING OFF TO JOIN IN AN ATTACK AGAINST ENEMY ...
AWM Collection Record: SUK13316 - Den Helder, Holland. 1944-09-25. Beaufighter aircraft of No. 455 Squadron RAAF took part in this attack against enemy shipping in the heavily defended Den Helder anchorage. Nuff said.
American Beaus book author I'm the author of "Beaufighters in the Night: 417 Night Fighter Squadron, USAAF." I'm curious if anyone here has read it and, if so, what did you think?
Hi mate. I 'm afraid I haven't read it yet but it is on my list to buy one of these days. We would be interested to hear how you came to write the book and any interesting experiences/people you met as you went.
It originated as a sheer coincidence. Until about six years ago, I did not know the USAAF flew Beaus. The Beaufighter has always been one of my favorite WWII aircraft, ever since reading "Night Fighter" by C.F. Rawnsley (Cunningham's R/O) and Robert Wright as a teenager long ago. About six years ago I was bidding on a Beau book on e-bay. I won the book but had a competitor e-mail offering to buy it after I read it as his dad was mentioned in the book. I asked if his dad was RAF and imagine my surprise at learning he was US! From that I wound up writing several magazine articles - I live in the Washington DC area so accessing the US National Archives is relatively easy - and after a year or two considered a book. As I'd never done one, I was intimidated. Then, from the now defunct WWII Night Fighters Association, I was put in touch with a very great gent who has served as an unofficial squadron historian for nearly sixty years. He sent me several boxes of material/photos. When I received it, I knew I had a book. I interviewed three surviving pilots, three surviving R/Os, some ground crew, some support guys, and gained access to the letters and personal papers of numerous other guys that had died but their families gave me access. From those sources, the Archives, other references, I put together the book. The pilots didn't like the Beau because they'd trained on US aircraft including, of course, the P-70 - conventional gear, toe brakes, etc. Transitioning to the Beau, they had to 'unlearn' the habits instilled - tail dragger, thumb brakes on the yoke, the different response and handling of the sleeve-valved Hercules engines, etc, etc. The maintenance guys didn't like the airplane due to the high workload added to the lack of a spare parts system. With so few Beaus in the system, the USAAF did not set up a supply system, but left it to the Brits to supply both the aircraft and any support. As would be expected (the US did the same at times to the RAF), the airplanes given to the US weren't always the best. Add in having to beg/borrow/steal parts to keep 'em flying and the dislike can be understood. That said, everyone I interviewed was proud to have mastered the Beau. I'll have to keep my day job, but I think it's a good book. I'd be grateful for any feedback should anyone here read it.
Hi Brick, thanks for the insight. As you may have noticed, we have a couple of other authors on here as well - the most regular poster being Nostalgair (Owen Zupp) who wrote Down to Earth. I have been toying with the idea of getting off my a*se and writing something but struggle for time. I've read several books about flying the Beaufighter and, given it was a difficult aircraft to fly, am in awe of those who mastered her particularly if they flew at night or at very low level (pretty much every Beau crew!). How crafty or imaginative did the ground crews have to get to keep the aircraft flying?
One example of 'being crafty' involves tires/wheels. The thin rubber tires of the Beau were designed for the grass and smooth airfields of the UK. The gravelly/stony fields most often encountered in North Africa/Corsica of the American Beaus punctured/wore out tires at a phenomenal rate. Remember I said there was no US supply system and if the squadron was not co-located with an RAF Beau squadron, there's a problem that would quickly ground the Americans. The 417th NFS had a war-weary B-25 they used as a 'hack' for mail/booze/general duties runs. They also used it as a transport. In one case, the 417th found a refuse dump with numerous sets of cast-off RAF Beau tires (same as the Mossies) and loaded up the bomb bay of the B-25 with six sets of tires. That let the squadron keep flying for another week or so. A crew chief told of having to change sparkplugs every 25 hours due to the high oil consumption of the Hercules. The TBO of the Hercules compared to the Pratt & Whitney's of the P-70 back in the States was also dramatically less. Don't forget the specialized tools - gun cleaning bores, etc, that the Americans had to craft/'borrow' from the RAF for even simple, routine maintenance of the mighty Beau. In other words, lots and lots of work.
I think we posted the first engine runs for this earlier in this thread but here she is doing taxi runs. About as close to a running Beau as you'll get for the time being, I reckon: YouTube - Bristol Freighter - First Taxi In 20 Years
Amazing stuff. I knew I should have bought The Weekend Australian on Saturday - most likely had pics. Don't necessarily agree with piecemeal recovery of the Beau but...it's not my money!
No bodies in it so I do not have a problem with the salvage. By the way Andy, I watched "Beyond Kokoda" again last night and must have missed the beau's flying at 20 feet dropping supplies to the Aussies as they had no parachutes. The site of them trimming the top of the grasses was unbelievable! Do you know if this documentary is available on DVD?
